Baseball | 5/13/2025 9:58:49 AM
Empire 8 Champion SUNY Brockport took home four of the five major awards, as the Empire 8 Conference announced its 2025 Baseball All-Conference awards on Tuesday, May 13. The awards are voted on by the league's head coaches.
Senior pitcher/utility Zach Eldred of Brockport was named the 2025 E8 Player of the Year, while classmate Anthony Lapine was named the Pitcher of the Year. Senior catcher Jason Mansell earned E8 Defensive Player of the Year honors, while head coach Justin Beach and his staff were named Coaching Staff of the Year.
Eldred, a native of East Greenbush, NY, is enjoying an historic season both at the plate and on the mound. Offensively, Eldred is hitting .425, while leading the Empire 8 with 68 hits, 16 doubles, 18 home runs, 69 runs batted in, 140 total bases, an .87 slugging percentage and 1.372 OPS, while scoring 58 runs and stealing eight bases. He hit .411 with 11 doubles, 11 home runs and 39 RBI in 23 league games this season. On the mound, he is unbeaten with an 8-0 record, 1.89 earned run average and a 0.97 WHIP, while striking out 73 batters to just 15 walks in 62 innings pitched. Opposing batters have hit just .197 against him this season.
Lapine, a senior from Liverpool, NY, enters the NCAA Tournament with a sparkling 9-0 record, 1.19 earned run average and a 0.84 WHIP, while striking out 78 batters to just 16 walks in 68 innings pitched. Opposing batters have hit just .169 against him this season. He went 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with 48 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings. Lapine saved his best for last, pitching a complete-game four-hit shutout with eight strikeouts in the Empire 8 Championship round against Russell Sage on his way to being named the 2025 Empire 8 Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Mansell, a senior catcher from Lancaster, NY, has a sparkling .996 fielding percentage for Brockport with just one error in 245 total chances behind the plate this season. He has thrown out 8-of-14 would-be base stealers this season and catches a pitching staff that has recorded a sparkling 2.64 earned run average, 1.11 WHIP and 375 strikeouts in 337 2/3 innings, while opposing batters have hit just .204 against Brockport in 2025.
St. John Fisher outfielder Jordan Perry enjoyed an excellent debut for the Cardinals to earn 2025 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year honors, batting .322 with four home runs and a team-high 47 RBI in 37 games played. Sixteen of Perry’s 49 hits went for extra bases. In 23 Empire 8 league games, Perry hit .394 with a 1.056 OPS, three homers and 37 RBI.
SUNY Brockport head coach Justin Beach and his staff of assistant coaches Jonathan Schwind and Kyle Canavally were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time in their first season in the league. The Golden Eagles went 21-1-1 in league play, allowed just one run in three Empire 8 Baseball Championship Tournament games to roll to the E8 title and enter the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament with a 36-3-2 mark, ranked 11th in the NCAA National Baseball Index.
SUNY Brockport led all institutions with six first team selections and 10 total selections. St. John Fisher had three All-E8 first team selections, while Russell Sage and Houghton each had two. Sage and Fisher both had eight total all-league picks. Jason Story of Brockport and Evan Grimes of Russell Sage were repeat first team selections. Story played at Utica University in 2024.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2025 Empire 8 Baseball Sportsman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
2025 Empire 8 Baseball All-Conference Selections
Player of the Year: Zach Eldred, Sr., P/OF/1B, SUNY Brockport
Pitcher of the Year: Anthony Lapine, Sr., P, SUNY Brockport
Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Mansell, Sr., C, SUNY Brockport
Rookie of the Year: Jordan Perry, Fr., OF, St. John Fisher
Coaching Staff of the Year: SUNY Brockport, led by Head Coach Justin Beach
Empire 8 First Team
Catcher – Christian Tortorici, Jr., C, Houghton (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont)
First Base – Jack Griffin, Jr., 1B/DH, St. John Fisher (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa
Second Base – Kanta Ueno, Jr., 2B, Houghton (Omura, Nagasaki, Japan/Omura)
Shortstop – Zachary Figueras, Sr., SS, Russell Sage (Apopka, FL/Windermere)
Third Base – Kyle Wood, Sr., 3B, Keuka (Newark, NY/Newark)
Outfield – Kyle Blake, Jr., OF, SUNY Brockport (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia)
Outfield – Jason Story, Gr., OF, SUNY Brockport (Hilton, NY/Hilton)
Outfield – Evan Grimes, Sr., OF/P, Russell Sage (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa)
Outfield – Mario Cubello, Sr., OF, St. John Fisher (Bethlehem, NY/Glenmont)
Utility – Zach Eldred, Sr., P/U, SUNY Brockport (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia)
Designated Hitter – Jack Griffin, Jr., 1B/DH, St. John Fisher (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa
Starting Pitcher – Zach Eldred, P/U, SUNY Brockport (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia)
Starting Pitcher – Anthony Lapine, Sr., P, SUNY Brockport (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool)
Relief Pitcher – Eric Servellon, So., RP, SUNY Brockport (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington)
Relief Pitcher – Peyton Newton, Jr., RP, Utica (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport)
Empire 8 Second Team
Catcher – Connor Stone, Jr., C, Elmira (Scituate, MA/Scituate)
First Base – Jeff Stearns, Sr., 1B, Russell Sage (Vergennes, VT/Vergennes Union)
Second Base – Josh Indek, So., 2B, SUNY Brockport (Plainview, NY/Old Bethpage JFK)
Shortstop – Quinn Hill, So., SS, SUNY Poly (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point)
Third Base – Qingyang Feng, Sr., 3B, Houghton (Qianjiang, China Nanjing Dongshan)
Outfield – Nate Hall, So., OF, Houghton (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena)
Outfield – Carlos Fantauzzi, Sr., OF, Keuka (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy)
Outfield – Jackson Frey, So., OF, St. John Fisher (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island)
Utility – Evan Grimes, Sr., P/OF, Russell Sage (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa)
Designated Hitter – James Lubanski, Gr., DH, Russell Sage (Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber)
Starting Pitcher – Ethan Fulton, Jr., SP, St. John Fisher (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg)
Starting Pitcher – Cooper Knabe, Jr., SP, Utica (Cortland, NY/Cortland)
Relief Pitcher – Connor Marcello, Sr., RP, SUNY Poly (Manorville, NY/Eastport South Manor)
Relief Pitcher – Jaylen Cuevas, Sr., RP, Russell Sage (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep)
Empire 8 Third Team
Catcher – Collin Casey, Jr., C, Russell Sage (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro)
First Base – Luke Landis, Fr., 1B, SUNY Poly (Moravia, NY/Moravia)
Second Base – Alex Evans, So., 2B, Keuka (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool)
Shortstop – Victor Alongi, Jr., SS, SUNY Brockport (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena)
Third Base – Brendan Bucello, So., 3B, St. John Fisher (East Amherst, NY/St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute)
Outfield – Frank Vanzillota, Jr., OF, SUNY Brockport (Dutchess County, NY/Arlington)
Outfield – Jordan Perry, Fr., OF, St. John Fisher (Malone, NY/Franklin Academy)
Designated Hitter – Ian Slate, Gr., DH, Houghton (Cambridge, NY/Grace Christian)
Designated Hitter – John Valinoti, Sr., DH, Keuka (Babylon, NY/Babylon)
Utility – Benjamin Huckans, Sr., P/IF, St. John Fisher (Amsterdam, NY/Christian Brothers Academy)
Utility – Michael Flint, Sr., P/IF, Fr., Utica (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy)
Starting Pitcher – Aiden Talcott, Jr., SP, Houghton (Farmington, NM/Farmington)
Starting Pitcher – Joe Degroot, Gr., SP, Russell Sage (Clay, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse)
Relief Pitcher – Nate Tyler, Jr., RP, Houghton (Du Bois, PA/Du Bois)
Relief Pitcher – Aidan Green, Jr., RP, Russell Sage (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro)
Empire 8 Sportsman of the Year
Quinton Jordan, Gr., OF, Alfred (Olean, NY/Olean)
Alan Michael LeFrois, Sr., 2B/SS, SUNY Brockport (Churchville, NY/Churchville-Chili)
Matteo Salvati, Sr., IF/OF, Elmira (Batsto, NJ/St. Augustine Prep)
Lukas Cornell, Jr., P, Houghton (Warsaw, NY/Warsaw)
Derek Novicki, Jr., 1B, Keuka (North Haven, CT/North Haven)
Derek Baur, Sr, 1B, SUNY Poly (New York Mills, NY/New York Mills)
Dylan Scherillo, Sr., C, Russell Sage (Drums, PA/New Dorp)
Nathaniel Kilburn, Sr., P, St. John Fisher (Loudonville, NY/Christian Brothers Academy)
Tom Ziskin, Utica, Sr., OF, Utica (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam)
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com and
YouTube
EMPIRE 8 SOCIAL MEDIA
YouTube –
Facebook –
Twitter –
Instagram